SPRINGFIELD — Five days ago, in Team USA Basketball’s World Cup intra-squad scrimmage, Paul George chased down James Harden in transition, went up for a block and bent his leg 90 degrees in the wrong direction on the way down.

The injury was gruesome. George’s teammates leapt off the bench looking horrified. After showing the replay once, the ESPN broadcast — to their credit — didn’t show it again. Play stopped after Paul George was removed from the court, and nobody was quite sure how players and their agents would react.

Nearly a week later, the aftershocks of the injury are still shaking the NBA in tangible ways. Kevin Durant, the highest-profile player on Team USA, withdrew from this summer’s World Cup on Thursday evening, citing mental and physical fatigue. Despite reports to the contrary, it’s hard to imagine seeing a top-shelf star like George go down with an R-rated injured didn’t play a role in Durant’s decision.

But David Stern, 30-year commissioner of the NBA who stepped down in February, said Thursday afternoon that he doesn’t believe George’s injury will have any effect on players wanting to play.

“I’d still play,” Mourning said. “Love for the game, man. Somebody’s injury isn’t going to stop me from playing the game of basketball…But I don’t know (if others would withdraw), to tell you the truth. You lace them up to play the game; you play basketball because you love it. Paul George’s injury is extremely unfortunate. It’s one of the things I really hate to see. People asked me ‘What do you fear the most?’ I fear injury. You play the game the right way, something’s going to give eventually.”

In 2012, Stern proposed that only players under the age of 23 be allowed to take part in Olympic competitions. Lakers star Kobe Bryant called the idea “stupid,” saying it should be the players’ choice whether or not they want to compete. On Thursday, however, Stern reiterated his idea and said it was in part intended to protect international players.

“That was something I proposed to try to alleviate the pressure on certain players,” Stern said. “Dirk (Nowitzki) was going to play for Germany no matter what. Manu Ginobili, aching and injured, was going to play. My own sense was that after they played in one or two Olympics, it would be good not to put pressure on them.”

Stern saw that pressure being applied first-hand. He recalled once getting a call from the Lithuanian prime minister asking if he could help persuade 13-year NBA veteran Zydrunas Ilgauskas to play for the national team.

“They were going to pass an act in parliament to allocate public funds to buy his insurance policy,” Stern said. “I said ‘Oh my goodness, gracious.’ That just begins to tell you how important national teams are.”

Mitch Richmond, also a member of the Class of 2014, had special motivation to participate with Team USA. Before he played in the NBA, Richmond was on the 1988 team that won bronze in South Korea before winning gold in 1996 in Atlanta.

“I had a different incentive,” Richmond said. “I wanted to go back. I didn’t care what it took; I wanted that gold medal.”

Richmond said that having an opportunity to represent one’s country is important, and that the players do make the decision to play for themselves.

“You don’t think about (the chance of injury),” he said. “You play this game one way: You play it hard, and that’s what Paul George was doing, playing hard. It was unfortunate, but I still think if I had an opportunity to play for my country I would play.”